2014 Camaro Z/28: Flowtie Video

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 was built by enthusiasts. As sacred as the Chevrolet bowtie would seam to be, even it went under the knife in search of increased performance.

Powertrain Cooling Development engineer Richard Quinn took a cutoff wheel to the inner portion of the bowtie after he noticed that it was displacing air away from the radiator during aerodynamics testing. Since this track monster could ill afford decreased cooling as the result of the obstruction, Richard tested his prototype and found that it allowed three additional cubic meters of air into the engine per minute. Long track sessions revealed that this dropped engine coolant and oil temperatures by a full 2°F (1.2° C). Though this improvement seems minimal, GM stated it was enough to justify the change, and thus the “Flowtie” became standard on the Z/28.

“There are engineers in our team that race as a hobby,” said Quinn, “and we used that racer’s mindset to look for ways small or large to get better performance out of the Z/28. Even the smallest details on the Z/28 were weighed for cooling benefit, and this is one that stuck.”

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“The Flowtie is just one example of the team’s focus on track performance,” said Al Oppenheiser, Camaro chief engineer. [I guess you might say it is symbolic or emblematic of their commitment to performance? Too much?] “That same attention to detail is evident throughout the cooling systems for the LS7 engine, as well as the carbon ceramic brakes and the differential.”

“The Camaro Z/28 has more than 190 unique parts, compared to a Camaro SS,” Oppenheiser said. “Like the Flowtie, each of these parts were changed with one objective: to deliver incredible performance on the track – not just for the first lap, but lap, after lap, after lap.”

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